Africa-Press – Eswatini. The collective voice of the populace has been expressed.
The electorate has exercised their democratic right to elect representatives for the 12th parliamentary session. Commendably, this election has seen one of the biggest voter turnouts ever recorded under the current constitutional dispensation, which sends a powerful statement that the people have high expectations of the Members of Parliament, a vast majority of whom are new faces. Also, positive to note was the slight increase in women MPs-elect, albeit all new to the Legislature. However, new or old, their deliverables will all depend on whether the electorate made wise and informed decisions because we reap what we sow in life.
In the absence of a vote of recall, five years from now we should have positive answers to whether we have presented this country with people who have a strong moral compass and are capable of effectively bringing about the positive impact required in our lives. Since corruption is the biggest obstacle to our development goals, we should be able to say that we have elected people with a moral compass, strong enough to bring back to life the anti-corruption unit and to give it the authority and resources it needs to root out the epidemic. It should be able, for instance, to lock up individuals who have auctioned off Parliament seats. Are we to regret or rejoice our decisions, or did we care not enough about what the future of our children holds as long as we got to enjoy a free meal for a day?
We applaud the electorate of some constituencies that, in our assessment based on the track record of the individuals, made good choices that could have a meaningful impact on our socio-economic objectives. Others, however, seem to let us down with people who can barely manage their own lives or have track records that leave us wondering how they could ever provide meaningful solutions to our challenges. Is it the system or our irresponsibility? The latter seems more plausible. We’ve made our bed; so here’s to hoping that the First World dreams we shall have while lying on it, will come to fruition.
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